According to a recent Textile Development Memo issued by the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA), on October 31, 2006 a U.S. paper producer filed petitions with the Department of Commerce (DOC) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking both antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duties on imports of coated free sheet paper from China, Indonesia, and South Korea. The TDM notes that this is the first CV challenge in 20 years filed against a non-market economy country (China). The TDM further notes that this case may signal prospects for CV duty cases against other Chinese products. (USA-ITA TDM dated 10/31/06, www.usaita.com)
Advocates for the hearing-impaired are making the 8th floor rounds seeking reversal of waivers on closed captioning requirements, said Paul Gagnier, a lawyer representing some of them. The FCC is being pushed by 7 groups challenging the legal basis for several hundred captioning waivers granted programmers. The FCC is weighing the groups’ Oct. 12 petitions to rethink the waivers and to grant an emergency stay on their implementation, Gagnier said: “We are certainly hopeful that the FCC will reverse what we see as an erroneous decision by the bureau, and if they do not, we will certainly determine our options accordingly.” Telecom for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing, National Assn. of the Deaf and others want the Commission to overturn waivers issued in Sept. by the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB). The groups said they may sue the FCC if it lets the waivers stand (CD Sept 27 p4). A CGB official couldn’t say whether the Bureau had acted on the petition. In their application for review, the petitioners demanded that CGB review each individual programmer petition to escape closed captioning rules, not grant them en masse. “The Bureau failed to comply with the Commission’s rules because it did not put petitions for exemption on public notice and did not justify each waiver of the public notice rule,” the petitioners said. CGB’s actions created a standard that “threatens to allow a huge and totally unwarranted number of exemptions,” said the document. Many of the challenged exemptions went to programmers producing religious shows. The National Religious Bcstrs. (NRB) said CGB followed procedure because it didn’t classify a new type of programming exempt from captioning rules. “The policy… recognizes exemptions for non-profit broadcasters who would otherwise incur an ‘undue burden’ in complying with closed-captioning requirements,” said NRB’s opposition to the application for review: “Many religious non-profit organizations have not sought exemption, but have fully complied with the captioning requirement.”
In a new White House-backed plan, DHS will “pull together,” coordinate and evaluate information from state and local law enforcement, a federal official told a DoJ advisory committee Thurs. The Presidential policy is “basically being approved,” said Sue Reingold, deputy program mgr.-Office of the Dir. of National Intelligence. Speaking before DoJ’s Global Justice Information Sharing Advisory Committee, she stressed the importance of technology in fighting terrorism and crime: “We need to collaborate so that time sensitive threat information gets into the hands of law enforcement.”
Shipper's NewsWire reports that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has issued a report backing the renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a trade program that extends duty-free treatment to certain goods imported from specific developing countries. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to increase its congressional lobbying with the aim of having renewal legislation passed before the end of the current congressional session. (American Shipper Pub 11/02/06, www.americanshipper.com)
Paul FitzPatrick resigns as Crown Media COO… DataPath names David Helfgott, ex-SES Global, pres.-COO… Jason Barbour, 911 dir. for Johnston Co., N.C., takes over as National Emergency Number Assn. pres… Michael Dugan, EchoStar, joins Citizens Communications board… Salem Communications promotes Michael Reichert to vp- operations… Fuse names Joanne Freed, ex-Ketchum, vp- consumer public relations … Michele Solomon promoted to vp- ad sales mktg. AMC Entone picks Gerard Pearce, ex- Motorola/NextLevel, to head N. American sales… Entone picks Gerard Pearce, ex-Motorola/NextLevel, to head N. American sales…Amitabh Singhal, ex-Internet Service Providers Assn. of India, affiliates with Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis… Richard Yanowitch resigns from NDS Group board.
Though there’s little wiggle room in the schedule, holding a “geographic” rollout of DTV converter boxes and $40 coupons during a prelaunch “testing phase” could serve as a dress rehearsal to iron out bugs before actual coupon and box distribution begins in 2008. That’s what one vendor told NTIA it would do if awarded the contract for running the $1.5 billion DTV coupon program.
Emergency communications need “fundamental” reform, the New America Foundation said Thurs., urging a shift in focus from local to national control. A national system exploiting commercial networks as appropriate would be cheaper and more effective than today’s, the report said.
The timeline for granting AWS spectrum licenses depends on Wireless Bureau resources, a bipartisan panel of wireless advisors to FCC commissioners said Thurs. at an FCBA Telecom Practice Committee lunch. The 3 advisors -- 2 of 5 originally enlisted bowed out -- described wireless issues expected to be primary for their bosses in the coming year: AWS, early termination fees, 800 MHz rebanding, the WARN Act and preemption.
The U.K. seems to be gaining support as it tries to limit potential damage from an EC proposal to regulate “nonlinear” -- on-demand -- AV services, Broadcast Minister Shaun Woodward told a Lords panel studying the legislation Wed. Only Slovakia has endorsed the U.K. idea of regulating only “TV-like” services under a revised TV without Frontiers (TVWF) directive, but Woodward hopes he and his colleagues have persuaded enough other EU countries that govt. control isn’t the way to deal with nonlinear services to soften the Commission proposal, he said.
The U.K. seems to be gaining support as it tries to limit potential damage from an EC proposal to regulate “nonlinear” -- on-demand -- AV services, Broadcast Minister Shaun Woodward told a Lords panel studying the legislation Wed. Only Slovakia has endorsed the U.K. idea of regulating only “TV-like” services under a revised TV without Frontiers (TVWF) directive, but Woodward hopes he and his colleagues have persuaded enough other EU countries that govt. control isn’t the way to deal with nonlinear services to soften the Commission proposal, he said.